


count the ways on my two hands we could be friends

by MiniNephthys



Category: End Roll (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 10:44:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8159323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: No one knows the name of Russell's twin brother.  Gardenia sets out to find out.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Français available: [count the ways on my two hands we could be friends](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8684410) by [Scolopendre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scolopendre/pseuds/Scolopendre)



Russell has a twin brother whose name no one knows.

Well, that’s not quite true. The teachers know - they must know, it’s gotta be on official documents and attendance sheets and all that stuff. But they never end up actually saying it out loud. If they need to call on him for something, they’ll call him by last name, or sometimes by seat number.

Gardenia’s asked all the staff members she talks to regularly what that Russell’s twin is named. She couldn’t get a straight answer from anybody.

Mr. Dogma, health teacher, whose safe sex presentation had been a powerpoint consisting of the title slide and a slide saying only ‘Don’t’: “If he chooses to keep his first name hidden, that’s his own decision. You can ask him if you want.”

Mr. Kantera, chemistry teacher, whose fussing over students’ safety equipment doesn’t quite match up with how cheerfully he talks about the explosions the wrong kind of ingredients can cause: “Mmm, yes, that boy. What was his name again? Wasn’t it… Cody? No, that’s Dogma’s sister’s name… Apologies, I can’t seem to recall.”

Mr. Tabasa, English teacher, whose curriculum notes include the phrase ‘I was supposed to pick Lord of the Flies for this one but I couldn’t get over the part where they kill the pig’: “Uh… I kind of think if he’s hiding it from you guys, he wouldn’t want a teacher to spill the beans. Sorry, Gardenia.”

Mrs. Yue, history teacher, whose tiny stature would make her subject to more speculation about her age if she wasn’t gently insistent on the ‘Mrs.’ part: “I’m sorry… He asked me not to tell anyone.”

Mr. Walter, math teacher, whose strict intolerance of misbehavior in his class along with the difficult subject matter make him the teacher half of the students hate: “You’re going to be late for your next class if you sit around and gab.”

Ms. Yumi, gym teacher, whose enthusiasm for her job and desire to push everybody to their limits could easily make her the teacher the other half of the students hate if she didn’t have an excellent understanding of where those limits are: “Ain’t my place to be tellin’ other people’s secrets, even if they’re weird ones. Good kid, though.”

Ms. Fairia, guidance counselor, whose overly optimistic and peppy attitude makes her exactly the kind of guidance counselor students avoid going to for advice: “I couldn’t tell you thaaat! It’s more fun as a mystery, right?”

Ms. Mireille, nurse, whose blatant crush on Principal Saxon has even the freshmen betting on when she’ll confess: “W-wouldn’t it be simpler just to ask him? And… he doesn’t even sign the slips I give him with his name...”

Even Raymond, janitor, whose casual talk and/or flirting with every other staff member annoys everyone to different degrees and who’s friendly to all the students enough to be on first name basis with most of them: “Dunno. It’s not like I get student sheets like the teachers do, y’know? Kinda get the feeling he doesn’t like me.”

The student body has collectively settled on one name for Russell’s twin (well, besides ‘that asshole’). When they need to refer to him, they call him ‘the Informant’.

One of the few things anybody knows about him for sure is that he works on the school newspaper. He doesn’t sign any of his articles, but if there’s something pressing the boundaries of what’s in good taste to write in a school paper, it’s his handiwork. He won’t write a glowing review of the school play if it sucked, but he’ll slip in a mention of the cookies at the bake sale if someone got salmonella from them.

He doesn’t raise his hand in class, but he always knows the answer to the question, so consistently that the teachers have mostly given up on calling on him. Mr. Walter is one holdout - he gives some of the hardest questions to the Informant in hopes of tripping him up someday, and always seems genuinely disappointed when he gets it right.

He’s not a bad kid. At least, Gardenia doesn’t think so. Sure, he laughs at some pretty mean jokes, and he doesn’t talk much to anybody but Russell, but he’s just a high schooler. It’s not like he’s going around stealing people’s lunch money or shoving them in lockers… at least, not as far as she knows. He’s just weird and quiet.

So she’s decided! She’s going to be his friend. Not only will that get him to maybe tell her his name one day, but then she’ll have another friend! It’s a flawless plan.

She sits down next to him and Russell at lunch one day. “Hi! I’m Gardenia, I’m in some of your classes.”

“We know,” says the Informant.

“...Hi,” says Russell. “Do you want something?”

“Can I eat lunch with you two?” she asks.

The Informant raises an eyebrow. “Sorry-”

“Okay,” Russell says, at the same time. “You can sit here.”

He’s given a mildly surprised look by his twin, but Gardenia is already sitting down next to them with a chirp of “thanks!” and opening up her lunch bag, so there’s nothing he can do about it but deal.

Phase one, ‘the approach’, now completed. On to phase two.


End file.
